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Please be advised: This event will premiere LIVE on this page at 12:00 p.m. EST, Monday, February 8.

Join »ªÌå»á Senior Fellow Harold Furchtgott-Roth and Visiting Fellow Michael O’Rielly for a discussion on the impact of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

In some ways, 1996 was a troubled year for American politics. Partisanship gridlocked Washington, and government shutdowns became a regular part of life. Yet 1996 was also a year of hope. The federal debt crept towards zero. During his State of the Union Address in January, then-President Clinton declared that “The era of big government is over.� And on February 8, leaders of both parties met at the Library of Congress to celebrate the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 � the first major revision of federal communications law in over six decades, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in both houses of Congress.

Furchtgott-Roth and O’Rielly are both former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioners and served as congressional staff members working on the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Join us for a conversation as the former Commissioners reflect on the impact of this landmark legislation and what it holds for the future.